


fall hard, fare well

by shitzu111



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Eventual Romance, Fluff, I'll add tags along the way, Inspired by Alice in Wonderland, Knights - Freeform, M/M, Monsters, Pirates, Princes, Sylphs, mostly luwoo
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-27
Updated: 2019-03-27
Packaged: 2019-12-18 15:57:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,264
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18253097
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shitzu111/pseuds/shitzu111
Summary: Yukhei used to be a member of the Lunar Order of Chivalry (a group of knights in the underworld) but is now an exile roaming the surface of the earth. When he learns of some tragic news from the underworld, he decides to go back, but accidentally brings with him regular 21-year-old Kim Jungwoo.





	1. trust issues

Jungwoo was thinking about quitting his job again when the boy walked into the store, around one o’clock in the morning, looking worse than the last time.

The boy didn’t even spare him a glance, but kept walking to the back of the store to get a can of Mountain Dew. Jungwoo watched him move around the store through the CCTV cameras, and he was not surprised with what he saw.

The boy had been coming to Humpty Dumpty’s, the corner store Jungwoo worked at during the night, for almost a month now. He would either buy an energy drink or some soda at the back of the store, then subtly pace up and down for a minute or two, as if he was looking for something. Occasionally, he would pick up a bag of Cheetos or some instant ramen along his way back to the counter. He would come every other night, and sometimes, he does not come for three nights straight but would always come back to purchase his usual.

For the past month, Jungwoo had been less bored with his job, too, trying to figure out what’s up with him. At first, Jungwoo thought he was a criminal or something, and was likely to point a gun at him. But the more often he came by, the more Jungwoo observed that he was simply… lost, or something.

Jungwoo pretended like he was scrolling through his phone when the boy was done with his pointless yet suspicious pacing. When the latter placed his Mountain Dew and a pack of instant noodles on the counter, Jungwoo looked up to see what seemed off with him tonight- a small gash on his right cheek, longer hair, semi-bloodshot eyes and half-moons under said eyes. Some acne had also grown on his face, too. Still, Jungwoo thought the boy was blessed to have a unique face like that. With his height, lean build and easy-on-the-eyes kind of face, he could probably model for nasal spray and still leave girls (and maybe even guys) head-over-heels for him.

“That would be $2.77.”

The boy scanned the back wall of the counter, which was lined with cigarettes and other sin products. “I’ll get a pack of Marlboros, too, please.” The boy’s deep voice almost made Jungwoo jump since this was the first time he had ever heard him talk.

“May I first see your ID, sir? We have a strict policy of not selling cigs to underage customers.”

The boy flashed him an amused smile instead of the expected inconvenienced reaction. “Do I look underage to you?”

Jungwoo thought that his presence by itself was already overwhelming. Now that the boy was smiling, watching him get tamped down by anxiety and probably enjoying it, he averted his gaze and thought about the right words. He was very polite with customers. “Not necessarily, sir. It’s just that… some customers could look old but are actually underage, and vice versa. I’m very sorry for the inconvenience. I’m just following my boss’s orders.”

“Oh, so I look old, then, but you’re just not the trusting sort.” But he fished his wallet out of his pocket to get his ID, anyways. “Here.”

Jungwoo was trying to say he did not look old at all, but he was distracted by the crescent moon tattoo on the crook of the boy’s thumb. It looked like any other moon tattoo on Tumblr, yet there was something unusual about it, he just couldn’t point out. He quickly scanned the ID with his eyes. _His name is_ Yukhei _Wong, and he’s twenty. Just a year younger than me, then._

After Yukhei paid for his purchases, he hesitated again, as if he had something to say to Jungwoo.

“Is there anything else you need?” Jungwoo asked.

But Yukhei only shook his head. “Oh, it’s nothing. I just wanna say, loosen up. See ya around, _Trust Issues_.”

“Wait, what did you call me?” Jungwoo felt himself turn red. He was fine with people taking advantage of his shyness and watching him squirm in anxiety. But he was not fine with being given a nickname he did not like.

Yukhei did not even turn back. There was nothing Jungwoo could do, but grow to dislike him.


	2. humpty dumpty had a great fall

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jungwoo repeated the name. “Downhaven. Sounds like a club where people go down on each other while doing crystal meth or something.”

Smoking felt great, Yukhei had discovered. But it didn’t keep the nightmares at bay. If possible, it even made his bad dreams more vivid. He went from having trouble falling asleep to not getting any sleep at all. He had finished a pack of cigars in the span of two days, which was probably not the healthiest way to cope.

He checked his calendar. Tonight the moon would be full, giving him his greatest chance at the portal in Humpty Dumpty’s. Markus, one of the Moon Kingdom’s spies to the modern world, and his closest friend, had hinted him that the closest portal to where he stayed was “a place where a fallen creature lay in pieces, and the kings’ men only blew him goodbye kisses, for they could not put him back together again.”

He scoffed as he reminisced the day Markus had visited his shabby apartment. Typical of his best friend. No matter how hard he had begged, Markus’s loyalty stayed with the royal court. And besides, Yukhei was exiled for treason- all the more reason for Markus to deprive him of answers.

He had figured it out through the Internet. Markus’s hint led him to a children’s song featuring an egg named Humpty Dumpty, thanks to the very cheap phone he had bought with the money he earned from his two part-time jobs. It took him quite a while to get to Google, which reminded him how much of an inattentive student he was back in his trainee days. As a knight-in-training, he had been subjected to multiple classes about a lot of things- sword-fighting, potions, the history of Downhaven and its two kingdoms, and the basic things about the modern world, like technology. Where the modern world lived and breathed technology, Downhaven ran on magic. Messages were conveyed through the wind-nymphs and the fast-flying firebirds. If you were rich enough to own mouth-hawks, then congratulations for making it to the elite tier of Downhaven’s social caste.

Sylphs and sprites, he cursed. He was so close to getting enough moonflower seeds to buy one.

A few hours passed, then he got ready to try the portal at Humpty’s again. Seeing himself in the mirror as he brushed his teeth made him cringe badly. He almost didn’t know himself anymore. He had lost weight, had hideous skin, and grew bags under his eyes.

He did not look like a knight of the Lunar Order of Chivalry.

Emotionally shouldering the weight of guilt, Yukhei carried on and put on his darkest clothes, anyways. As Taeyong, the first knight in the Order, would say, “Failure is temporary only if you make it be.”

Tonight, he was going to shred this _failure_ to bits until it could no longer haunt him both in his dreams and in his waking life.

\-----

Yukhei did not bother pretending he liked Mountain Dew or Pepsi or whatever one called the sour blue energy drink anymore. When he got to the back of the store, the floor beneath him throbbed in perfect rhythm to his pulse. It was stronger than it was the other night. Fate has heard his prayers- the Earth’s full moon responded to his Lunar blood as Downhaven’s moon would.

It was now or never.

He was about to conduct the ritual on the floor when the kid who worked behind the counter appeared in the canned goods aisle behind him. He was tagging the goods with prices using a noisy tagging gun. Yukhei didn’t think he would notice- the kid looked bored and disinterested, anyways. He turned his back on him and focused on the heartbeat of his world pulsating through the skin of the modern world.

Closing his eyes, he took out a small knife from his jacket pocket. Bloodshed was the key to portals, but one drop was enough. This would have to take only a few minutes, and then-

“HEY! What are you up to this time?!” It was Trust Issues, breaking Yukhei’s concentration and making him drive the blade of the knife a little deeper than necessary.

When Yukhei turned, the kid saw his blood and froze in panic, dropping his tagging gun, eyes wide as the Earth’s moon tonight.

“I’m calling 911!!”

“Wait! No!” Yukhei almost ran to stop him if it weren’t for the ritual. He had to stay in place for it to work. Instead, he jutted his knife in front of him, as if to wield it.

Trust Issues picked up his tagging gun and pointed it at him. _Sprites,_ Yukhei thought. _At least this little bug is not as smart as I think he is._

A whole minute passed. Yukhei dropped his arm, smoothly tucking his knife away. He was so close to opening the portal. Any minute now…

Trust Issues inched closer to him, eyes darting between him and a space behind him. That was when he realized that in a little corner near the fridge that held the beverages he usually bought was a phone-charging station. It was a secluded space-  one needed to look carefully before noticing it.

“Don’t move,” Trust Issues threatened. “And stop hurting yourself.”

Yukhei held his hands. “Already tucked the knife away. Stop worrying. You don’t need to call the police or anything. Just a small slip-up! Didn’t mean to cut myself!”

“Oh, you didn’t mean to? Well, what did you bring that knife for?” The look of horror on his face was evident. “Please don’t kill yourself here, the police might think I did it!”

“No, I’m simply… doing a ritual. Just go back to the counter and let me handle this.”

“You can’t change my mind. People nowadays…they take drugs, go crazy and slit everyone’s throats!”

Before the kid could get past him to get to his phone, the portal opened. Yukhei felt himself get swallowed by a blood-colored light. It was the exact shade of red of Downhaven’s moon. For seconds, he couldn’t see anything. He felt weightless- a firebird’s feather through the wind, tumbling towards all directions, stretching, being compressed…

And then, being tangible again.

When Yukhei opened his eyes, the orange, Downhaven sky stared down at him solemnly. It was dawn here, he figured. _What a great time to be alive_ , he thought. And he didn’t just mean it because he was back in the world he knew, but because the rounds by the royal guards and the Lunar Order would not begin until four in the morning. It was probably still two in the morning, giving him enough time to think before making his next move.

He felt the pad of a giant night lily beneath him. Apparently, he had landed in a swampy area an hour’s hike from the royal palace.  

He remembered Trust Issues again. He felt sorry for the guy, not just for leaving him that horrified, but for calling him Trust Issues. Yukhei hoped that the boy would recover from what he had witnessed tonight.

Yukhei heard a whimper to his right.

“T-Trust… Issues?! What the-“

On a night lily pad not so far from him, the boy sat frozen as a hissing stick crawled into his lap. “Get it off get it off get it off me, please!” he begged Yukhei.

This was such a mistake.

On the other hand, the hissing stick was slowly making its way to the boy’s crotch.

“Swat at it!” Yukhei screamed at him.

“I can’t- I can’t move! Please!”

Yukhei stood up and ran towards him. In one sweep, Yukhei caught the hissing stick in his hand and killed it the way his teachers in knight training school had taught him to- by breaking its spine twice with his own hands.

“What on earth was that?” the boy asked him.

“First of all, we’re technically not _on_ earth, Trust Issues. We’re in Downhaven. That’s underneath the earth. And that thing was a hissing stick,” he began to explain, but Trust Issues was already interrupting him.

“What the hell is Downhaven? And will you please stop calling me that? My name’s Kim Jungwoo! Jungwoo Kim! Kim. Jung. Woo.”

Yukhei nodded many times just to get him to stop pronouncing his name over and over again. “Okay, Jungwoo,” he said, surprised at how easy his name rolled off his tongue, as if he had known it since he could speak. Strange. He’d never met a Jungwoo before.

Jungwoo stared at his surroundings. He could move now that the cause of his terror was dead. “Did you drug me or something? Why is this lily so huge?”

“Oh, of course I didn’t drug you, Jungwoo. I’m telling the truth. I know it’s hard to believe, but we are no longer on earth. We’re under it.” Yukhei hoped Jungwoo would at least learn to trust him just a bit.

“Then, how do you explain the sky? There’s a sky in hell, too? Guess Satan’s not so bad, huh. I mean, he even put giant flowers everywhere.” He gestured to the night lilies in full bloom around them and smiled mockingly.

Yukhei tried again, holding on to his thinning patience. “Not hell. Downhaven.”

Jungwoo repeated the name. “Downhaven. Sounds like a club where people go down on each other while doing crystal meth or something.”

Oh, to say that this was a mistake was such an understatement.

**Author's Note:**

> just realized that the first chapter seriously looks like it's straight out of wattpad lmao but ummm, what can i do i alr wrote it


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